Example pages for the AGK card model database

The database start page gives access to all implemented functions. There are also some direct access options to the right. To access a model you can navigate through the lists or use a search function. The direct access block also offers fast access to the last models, publishers or designers you viewed or changed.

Sample lists: Publishers from Danmark. Links to publisher homepages are provided (if known). The button always leads you to detail information about  the publisher, the button lets you change the information. The button starts a search for models by this publisher. The button shows a list of models related to the publisher. The button shows a list of model images (omitting models without images). The button lets you see a geographical overview of the locations of architectural models.

Sample lists: Designers with more than 10 model entries. The same functions are available as already described by der list of publishers.

There are many other list formats that you can use to drill down to a certain model or group of models. One of them is the list of categories that groups models by type/topic. The main model categories are distinguished by background color.

Here you see a list of locations of architectural models. The detail functions are, by and large, the same as described above. Similiar list exists for ships and aircrafts for the countries of origin and the models/classes.

Here you see a list of models for a certain publisher (the example is for the French publisher L'Instant Durable); it shows model details like designer, scale etc. Each button leads to a list formatted like this, and the results of model searches are also displayed in this format. By default each result page shows 20 models, but you can change this from the filter bar on the left side of the page. You can browse the result page forward and backward. The background colors of the entries are the category colors mentioned above (the orange color in the example stands for "architectural" models).
For non-members not all of the following functions are available. Members can click to go to the detailed model page, including all images. Choose to edit the model information. The "checkmark" button lets you add a model to your personal "virtual collection". marks a model for a subsequent side-by-side comparison. lets you search for models with a similar name.

Other formats of model lists: List of model cover images mentioned above. All controls work identically in all list formats.

Other formats of model lists: Configurable list in table format; it allows you to select the data columns you want to see and lets you sort the list by column.

Here is an example of a model details page ("model profile"). The database stores about 60 different characteristics for each model. Among other things you can store as many associated title, designer and publisher names as you like. Other typical fields are year of publication, print method, sheet and model size, number of parts and packing. There are also fields reserved for the built model and the original object, e. g. an assessment how close the model comes to the original. All this data is shown in the big table. Again, the background colors indicates the model category. The and buttons let you see detail information about the designer or publisher or too lists of all models with the same characteristic (same year, same designer, same publisher, same category etc.).
At the bottom of the table you the source of this information and where to find the model (museum, private collection(s). The next lines shows the history of the model entry, i. e. who created or changed it, and when. If there are images associated with the model you see thumbnails views of them to the right of the page; if there is more than one image you can view them as a slide show. The detail pages for designers and publishers are formatted along the same principles.

Here you see an example of a data entry form. There is dedicated help information for each single entry field (the example shows help for the category, bottom right). The clear structure and a separation into different sets of informations helps you to enter or change data correctly, even if you are no database expert. You can even add new models, following a step-by-step procedure that ensures the required minimum of data integrity. If you are a member of the AGKyou can edit all data that exists in the database – similarly to a Wiki we encourage anyone to add his or her knowledge to our database. If that sound interesting to you and you think you can contribute, why don't you become a member? See this page for the "how-to".

The page shown here is the result of a publisher search. In the example we searched with "fuzzy" criteria for all publishers whose name contains the string "model". The number in the first column indicates the calculated relevance (similarity). Otherwise, the page format is identical to the list of publishers described above. You can perform similar searches for models, designers, publishers etc. In each case you can decide, depending on much you know already, to perform a search for exact data or for fuzzy (loosely matching) data. An exact search only finds terms that occur in the item exactly as entered. A fuzzy search also returns results that are similar to the term entered; for example, it would find models with the (correct) name Eiffelturm even if you serch for Eifelturm or Eifel-Turm. In any case, the search result is a list of models as described above.

This is another option for architectural models. Models corresponding to "real estate" can be associated to a location, i. e. the town or country where the original building is. This can be evaluated as a list of models per location, but there is also a map view as shown here that marks all locations where original buildings may be found (the example shows a map of the Czech Republic).
There is a similar map for publishers – it shows locations from which the publisher took his inspiration for models.